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What Did James Clyburn Do During the House Recess?

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Among other things (no doubt), House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) sat down with South Carolina Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Otis Rawl and discussed energy and economic issues. This exchange on CEO Corner jumped out,
Rawl: Do you think nuclear, in, from a national level, is a viable alternative?
Clyburn: It is. It absolutely is. All we have to do is to step up and make the case. I have been unabashed in my support for nuclear energy. That's about 54% of the energy we produce in this state. We don't consume all of that. We export some of it. But it is a very critical part of the economy in South Carolina. And I do believe that there's much more support in the Congress for nuclear being a significant part of the sources going forward. [Emphasis added.]
The entire interview can be seen here. (The nuclear nugget appears at the 3:05 mark.)


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Marcel F. Williams said…
James Clyburn is going to get a lot of heat from the extreme left for his support for more nuclear energy. So I think nuclear advocates should email the majority whip to show our support.
April 22, 2009 at 3:31 PM
Anonymous said…
Frank Hummel (retired Electrical Engineer from the St. Louis, Missouri area)

We now know how to build nuclear fission reactors in ways that are at least INTRINSICALLY IMMUNE TO ANY POSSIBILITY OF MELTDOWN a la Chernobyl in the Ukraine, or (almost) Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.

It is AT LEAST possible to fabricate “the pile" in such a way that the fissile material density simply is not so great that if there is a loss-of-coolant accident (or maybe attack?) the temperature in the core would "go to the moon". The most promising-sounding proposals along these lines involve encasing pieces of the uranium fuel in CARBIDE spheres about the size of billiard balls, instead of in the classic "fuel rod" assemblies. These are positioned in a HORIZONTALLY ORIENTED BED. The fissile material density is then MUCH LOWER, so that the TEMPERATURES that would be attained if the heat-exchange-fluid flow were to fail for any reason would be lower, so THE CONSEQUENCES WOULD NOT BE UTTERLY DISASTROUS!

And such a design ALSO has the advantage that REFUELING reactors can be accomplished on a “DISTRIBUTED” basis, by simply adding NEW "fuel balls" at the top of the bed while pulling out old ones off the bottom --- SO THAT IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO SHUT SYSTEMS DOWN COMPLETELY FOR MONTHS ON END IN ORDER TO GET THE JOB DONE!

Any NEW dinosaurs of the FISSION type that might be built should SURELY, at least, apply THESE concepts! But who here is even THINKING about --- much less seriously considering actually IMPLEMENTING --- such “esoterica”? No, “we” are FAR too busy dithering about mere “politics” --- and now about the ECONOMIC “meltdown”! (And really, in connection with THAT disaster, most people over here seem to only be FOOLISHLY trying to do nothing more than re-establish “Business as Usual”!)

The ONLY way I, for one, would support any further FISSION dinosaur being built today would be if the meltdown-proof design were used. So far as I know, all the noises being made are for additional "conventional" designs. So I have expressed to my OWN Congressional representatives my OPPOSITION to the additional unit being proposed by Ameren UE here in Missouri. I suggest other folks elsewhere might wish to do likewise.
April 23, 2009 at 10:20 AM
Matt said…
The opposition to nuclear only appears to be "far left" when you are viewing it from the far right.

Think about that, guy.

Even if a reactor could be expected to perform 100% reliably under normal circumstances, we still have the waste to deal with. The problems of disposing with nuclear waste are mammoth, and the risks are great. Really, everything that has to do with the fuel is incredibly dangerous.

That, in addition to the fact that we would still be dependent on foreign energy. I believe canada and south africa are the only producers of fuel, correct? (I am too lazy to check ATM)

We need to spend our tax dollars on researching/implementing clean, renewable, SAFE energy.
April 24, 2009 at 8:11 PM
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